The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty (2020)

Great: -
1. the male leads are amazing. Especially the actor who played the character Wang Zhi did such a great job. It surprised me that it was his first acting job. Hope he can get many projects in the future.
2. no romance. It is more of a bromance drama and I love it. The relationship between the three male leads is great
3. The fighting scenes are so good choreographed. Definitely one of the best fighting scenes I have seen in a while
4. The female characters aren't annoying like some dramas. Duoer character was bit annoying at first but at later eps i got used to her character. Other than that most female characters are sympathetic and easily likeable.
5. Detective stories are connected. It is definitely not a drama where there is a new case every ep. The stories are longer and tje cases are connected in a way which make it quite interesting.
6. The comedy parts are quite funny and I always loved their expressions and reactions. Especially love when SuiZhou reaction to Tangfan actions.
7. WANG ZHI....yes that its. I love him so much. Why is he soo good. His script is definitely well written and the acting too. The first scene he appeared I know he gonna be my favourite in the drama. He looks so cute when he smiles. He stole the show for me. I love other main characters but wangzhi is just chef kiss. Thank you for including great character and actor lile him.
Bad things:
1.The main character Tangfan started out really clever but somehow the writers started making him bit annoying and he acts so dumb and doesn't think properly even though he was supposed to be genius. His actions doesn't make sense sometimes and he trusts people too easily. But when there is scenes where got his clever mind back and act like one, he is definitely a great character to watch. 2. The dubbing for SuiZhou bothered me at first a lot because it sounded too monotone like he has no emotions and the lines felt like it was read from a book BUT after few eps I got so used to his voice and become to love the way he talks. I also think that after few eps his line delivery definitely improved and got more emotions in it. I was surprised to read that his voice was dubbed by the actor himself. It might sound bit weird in the beginning but I got used to his voice and the way of talking pretty quick.
3. I wish the bromance was much stronger. In the beginning the story is written in way that the male leads interacted quite a lot and showed a lot of bromance but in later eps they don't have much scenes together. It was sad bc i definitely love their friendship/relationship between them.
4. Some scenes are quite long and unnecessary. Sometimes i just skip and skip but they just dragged out.
5. There is no season 2. Whyyyy....

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Chinese version of Sherlock and Watson bonded over Food and investigation

I watched this drama after a recommendation from a friend ,, she said it has the best friendship and character development ,,, she knows what I like in my dramas to watch
she was totally right ,, I thanked her for this gem
at first episodes I was a bit bored at first ,, I didn't know where is the friendship or the bond ,, I see people investigating only then it began to build up it's own momentum ,,, the characters became closer to each other and they began to experience their own battels ,,, there were some funny scenes I didn't find very funny but after ten episodes or more it showed how ever character behaves and what is his or her intention
the Two friends became closer and closer with the story as it moved along ,, it's pace was just right not too slow not too fast
the Two friends completed each other short comings ,, one with the brain , the other with muscles (fighting skills)
one protected the other
also it had good family and friendship values that I admired so much
the male lead did a great job and I fell in love with him and his character
he seemed annoying and selfish at first because he acted as the smartest person in the room most of the time but then his character learned to behave modestly towards his family and friends ,, his true nature became clearer and lovable
he loved every one around him and cared for every one and treated every one with the right compassion
the best part of the drama is the last ten or so episodes they were full of angst and Bromance
it became so clear how the second male lead love his friend so much and care for him ,, he protected him always but at the final episodes he cared for him more than anyone else ,,, he cared for his safety more than the people he serves or the king
yes he protected the king too but his friend didn't leave his mind for one second asking about his news all the time
there were some plot holes in the story but it's ok I don't mind them at all
some cons:
the second male lead's acting was lacking at times ,, his acting skills are a bit week not too much
killing the guy who look exactly like the third male lead was a bit weird as if it was ok to kill one commoner for the royal one and the male lead didn't react to that ,, I was surprised how ok they were about this matter
After all ,,, I loved this drama as a very good bromance drama
I recommend it so much

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First of Jacky Chan producing drama

We can sense this drama was produced by Jacky Chan with its wittiness, martial arts, comedic, and the moral story. Full of thrillers, funny dialog, reality of setting, and friendship between 3 main lead actors. I don't think this drama consider as BL type, its all about respect, trust, and friendship between them. Darren Chen as Tang Fan, Fu Meng Bo as Sui Zhao, Liu Yao Yuan as Wang Zhi, they brought in respective roles to the table creating such great chemistry together. Why not in love with Tang Fan? Such a cute brilliant smart magistrate while Sui Zhao had PTSD but his cooking skill and kindness won over the group, Wang zhi was the most calculative intelligent younger of the three that's his loyalty laid on Empress and Emperor foot. Wang Zhi was really kind and sweet to Tang Fan even though he's ruthless to subordinates, Tang Fan brought the best of Sui Zhao. I love every characters in the drama besides those 3; Li Zi Long, Ma Lin, Duo Er'La, Dong'Er, Dong Gu, Jia Kui, Pei Hu Ai, Wu Yun, no one I don't like. The best part was when Tang Fan gave many reason not to go for the mission (sick, got married, and even death) and Wang Zhi understandably giving him time until he made up his mind, When Wang Zhi kept saying "you know, you're the second person of..." (the first person he help someone was always the Emperor), Tang Fan crossed dressing as Mdm Gao and Wang Zhi laugh it endlessly. The ending was great..they bowed respectfully to each other saying good bye. I hope there will be season 2 but there isn't any talk yet...so finger cross.

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Very nicee. Underrated for me

Hii just finished watching Sleuth of Ming Dynasty and all I can say is it is perfect!! Love this trio.
I only have some problems near the ending cause Tang Fan made mistakes (Bolang got discovered bec of this)(also why didn't he shout when BoLang is being stolen like wtfff) but ofc it's normal as a human. Forgivable. Its just very annoying haha. But he was able to make up for the mistakes. Also, Tang Fan has this annoying personality cause he easily gets emotional and immature but that's Tang Fan. Like that's his character so I turned a blind eye to that
To add, the first few eps is a bit off for me. Like idk what they're doing but trust me, it's a masterpiece.
They said it's a BL drama but for me, it's only bromance. Like not even close to untamed flirting hahaha.
Little to no nonsense.
Loyalty and friendship ❤️❤️
No love triangle and cliche elements
Not focus on romance

My fave character is Wang Zhi.

Plot similar to: Ancient Detective, Imperial
Coroner.

**Pls suggest other dramas like this too huhu.
Im gonna miss them.** I need a new drama to move on hahaha. Sorry. Got attached to them.

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Well-built Camaraderie & Cooperation from the MLs + Nothing beats a warm Meal shared w/ Loved ones.

I feel like the real essense of this drama is being united and making sure that you go home at the end of the day to share a warm meal with your loved ones. =)

I really regret making it sit on my watch list for such a long time. This drama is such a heartwarming story that I would recommend to anyone who are experiencing different circumstances in life. For some reason it provided me great comfort and inspiration to move forward by looking back at my previous self and so, I hope that it can also help with other people to cope with all the predicaments they're going through with their lives.

This drama unexpectedly stood out to be one of the best Crime-Investigation drama there is. It is completely different from those who provides solid and thrilling action scenes but that what made this drama so unique for me. I love how it focuses on various aspects and views of life as well as providing great amount of family warmth and camaraderie that helps the whole narrative become more fun, enjoyable and interesting to watch.

Also, I might admit that it's not really perfect when it comes to story and the plot it took... More specifically towards the end where I found too much plot holes that was just added maybe because they lack another idea? or they just don't want to make Tang Fan perfect all the time but even with those, you can't just deny that they did extremely greatly with the rest of the story. So I'll just give it to them and consider it as something they overlooked. After all they still did great!

Other things I wanted to highlight is how this drama was presented in a lighter way? Antagonists were really bad but they weren't cruel enough to be considered as evil. That may seem like a bad thing but in all honesty it makes this drama easier to watch cause the protagonists can easily overturn the tides against them and let's all be honest here... Who even like to watch overly dark and heavily plotted drama in this stressful era we're at right now? All I care is to enjoy and have fun~!!

Laslty, Women Empowerment here specially at the end with Consort Wan is truly satisfying!! Like, Let's GO!! We all love authoritative and confident women. — ALSO, The Bromance with Tang Fan and Sui Zhou is something I squeal HARD!! Cause some of their scenes at the latter part of the story can pass as a BL inserts to be very honest. Hahaha.

Story - 10, As mentioned above it wasn't perfect and it definitely has some scenes where you'll find yourself saying "Wait, What? Huh??" but aside from those, the rest of the story do provide great progression and didn't disappoint in executing the highly thrilling and crucial scenes. So overall, it is still a Perfect score for me.

Acting/Cast - 10, Great acting from the Main and Lead Casts. Hell, even the side characters are good in their respective roles. Special mention to the actor of General Gao Yi. His facial expression is perfection. An expert I would say. The rest are really good as well. I love watching dramas without having to cringe over bad acting and this drama 'served' hard!!

Music - 10, Opening is really good and I must say that the inserts are really approriate and well suited as well. Kudos to the editors and music team for choosing the best music fitted for each scenes.

Rewatch Value - 10, I would love to. and I will surely recommend it to people looking for a crime-investigation drama that provides good story as well as positive character relationship and progression.

Overall - 10, Deserved!! I feel like I can never give it a rating lower than this. As stated in my bio, I don't care about other peoples view and opinion. All I care is how the drama performs and delivers its message and values as a whole and this drama surely did not disappoint and executed really well in different aspects.

IF you find my review helpful please let me know.

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Maintaining Power Balance in the Royal Court.

The drama tells the story of 15th century China, It is set during the 14th year of Chenghua Emperor's reign. This drama has been adapted from BL chinese novel "The Fourteenth Year of Chenghua" by Meng Xi Shi. Due to restrictions in China, the relationship between the protagonists Tang Fan (Darren Chen) a sixth rank official working as a Magistrate of the Shutian Perfecture and Sui Zhou (Fu Meng Po) an embroidered uniform guard, at the Northern Administrative Court of Imperial Guards and a former soldier is depicted as bromance rather than romance. Another interesting character is Wang Zhi (Liu Yao Yuan) an Eunuch and Commander of Western Depot.

Historically, Emperor Chenghua favoured Noble Consort Wan who was around 17 years elder to him. Wang Zhi, the crown prince , Commander Wan of Northern Imperial guards are real historical figures. The story is expertly woven around the real historical figures and fictional characters blending them together to form an interesting story of a brilliant crime solving seluth, Tang Fan and a stoic imperial guard, Sui Zhou suffering from a bad case of PTSD.

The story starts with Sui Zhou and Tang Fan solving petty mysteries that morphs into a bigger conspiracy against the Crown. Sui Zhou and Tang Fan during their first encounter seem as different as oil and water somehow fit together very well as they get to know each other while solving crimes and mysteries. Tang Fan who is quite impoverished after having given up his property as a dowry to his married sister Tang Yu, supplements his meager income by writing erotic love stories. Sui Zhou a former soldier belonging to a noble family is quite prosaic, living all alone in a vast house. Tang Fan is tempremental and mercurial whereas Sui Zhou is calm and collected. After getting to know each other while solving a few cases, Tang Fan moves in with Sui Zhou. They also redeem from the brothel and save a young girl Dong Er(Huangyang Tian Tian) who was a servant at Tang Fan's previous land lord's house. Dong Er is a child prodigy who is like their adopted daughter and seems to fit in well with Sui Zhou and Tang Fan. Together the three of them form an unconventional but endearing family. Tang Fan loves to eat good food while Sui Zhou gets satisfaction in cooking for him. Cooking for Tang Fan and providing stability for his family also helps Sui Zhou manage his PTSD. Due to their cases, they frequently encounter Wang Zhi whose philosophy is "I help you and you help me". Wang Zhi, Sui Zhou and Tang Fan form three corners of a power triangle. They even mange to prevent a coup at the end of the series.

As the story progresses more beloved characters become a part of this unorthodox family, Duo Er La and Wu Yan the Oirats living in iron market, Tang Yu and her son He Cheng, Doctor Pei Huai each having their own short story arc.

Apart from Tang Fan and Sui Zhou's family and friends the series also depicts the power struggle within the Royal Court. Another powerful triangle in the series is the three departments.
1.Eunuch Shang Ming the head of Eastern Depot, 2.Commander Wan Tong the head of Northern Imperial Guards as well as Noble Consort Wan's brother.
3.Eunuch Wang Zhi the head of Western Depot who seems to be gaining more authority and power, acting as the Emperor's informant. He has developed a vast spy network even recruiting smart beggar boys.

The rumours among the officials is that the Emperor is quite passive and real power is wielded by the Noble consort Wan Zhen'er. The Emperor is surrounded by corrupt officials and can rely only on Wang Zhi's loyalty. However the Emperor is also wary of Wang Zhi's growing powers. The Eastern Depot, The Western Depot and The Northern Imperial guards are often an loggerheads, each trying to usurp the other department. The political intricacies, back stabbing and plots by the court officials form quite an interesting part of the drama. Also mixed in the main arc of the story is the family background and fate of family members of previous rulers and rebels.

Jackie Chan is one of the producer of this series and many stunts of the drama take inspiration from his fighting style. Tang Fan's unserious attitude combined with 'keep on moving' philosophy of Sui Zhou makes most of the cases quite humorous in a satirical manner. The drama brings in its share of laughter and tears as the viewers become witnesses and companions of these characters' journey.

First thirty five episodes are quite fast paced and gripping however the last twelve episodes feel draggy. The last plot of the coup and the main antagonist, Li Zi Long's role seems to overshadow Tang Fan's brilliance. All decisions made by Tang Fan are gullible and foolish. I was waiting for the Eureka moment where the viewers would be astonished as to how Tang Fan pretented to fall in their trap but had the situation well under control however that doesn't happen. Li Zi Long temporarily outsmarts Wang Zhi and Tang Fan and our protagonists hobble behind just about barely manage to save the day.

Overall: An Engaging drama, it may not be The best mystery series but certainly has its own charm. Definitely worth Watching.

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Watched for Kuan Hung, but stayed for the other cast members!!!!!!

I am particularly picky about my dramas so bear with me if my review sounds a little harsh. Anyways, let's begin......
I only decided to watch this drama after seeing clips of Kuan Hung cross-dressing on social media (XHS). Ironically, Kuan Hung's character turned out to be underdeveloped and inconsistent throughout the drama. But the other characters and plot kept me captivated. In the novel, Tang Fan is supposed to be intelligent and quick-thinking, but in the drama, Tang Fan kept on bouncing to and fro between intelligent and dumb (or naive). Sui Zhou and Wang Zhi, are from 锦衣卫 （Jin Yi Wei) and 西厂 （Xi Chang) respectively. If you are not very sure of what they are, they are basically spy organisations that report back directly to the empower during the Ming Dynasty ie. very powerful organisations. Sui Zhou's Taiwanese accent makes me confused from time to time but it's okay once I've gotten used to it. Sui Zhou's character is outright righteous and patriotic. Wang Zhi, on the other hand, is more complicated. He's manipulative, cold-blooded and ruthless to the bad officials, but he's extremely loyal to the Emporer and Royal Consort Wan. What makes him captivating is that he has a cute, fluffy and soft side.
The plot is pretty good. I like how each conspiracy leads to another conspiracy.
Overall, it's a good watch!

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This show is so good ❤️

I just love everything about this show and wondered why I didn't pick this up sooner. Definitely one of the best out there. Love the characters, the fight scene, the tasty-looking fuuuuud, the music and everything. The plot is very interesting and there's also a good blend of comedy and seriousness. The characters are distinct with good developments. While the friendship between the tio Tang Fang, Sui Zhou and Wang Zhi is amazing, the family dynamic between Tang Fang, Sui Zhou and Dong Er will always have a special place in my heart. Definitely in the top of my re-watch list ❤️❤️❤️

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Could've been better

The story is like an investigative drama but too much emphasis is given on the drama part. Insertion of unwanted romantic subplots really takes away a bit from the story. It's like a typical Jackie Chan movie, good action and comedy, which makes it charming enough.

Editing is shit, scenes just cut off abruptly. Music is decent.

There is a cooking montage every five episodes and they eat something atleast twice every damn episode. It makes you wonder if you're watching TLC instead.

There are three main characters whose roles are equally important. The MC is constantly hungry, eccentric and smart. The other main character (or ML) is a grumpy looking guy who doesn't talk much but when he does it's so soft spoken and soothing. The last one is cunning and ruthless yet has a vulnerable edge to him and perhaps the one who goes through a whole character arc.

Love their little family and the dynamics between all the members. It's a decent watch if you have time to spare.

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For everyone that isn't into romances

I started watching this drama a while ago, but gave up after the second episode because I couldn't follow the plot. I'm glad I came back after watching other dramas. They gave me more background knowledge to follow the complex political structures and plots.

While the plot was interesting, it was the characters that really got me hooked, especially Wang Zhi. His character and story had so much more potential and I would love to see a whole show with him as the main character. It kind of blew my mind that he was so young - and while his actions sometimes made you forget that, the show manages to remind you of his youth in some really great scenes.

Overall, the show suffered from the same problems that many shows do: the plot gets too convoluted, the stakes don't fit the established tone of the show and some plot holes are hard to overlook. For example, there should have been a better way to introduce the Empress as a warrior, as it came out of nowhere (twice). While the action scenes were great in the beginning, when they tried to raise the stakes in the last few episodes, it became over the top and felt out of place. Also, some of the serious issues they were trying to address (e.g. PTSD, domestic violence, human trafficking) went nowhere and had no consequences.

Despite these problems, I really loved the show and its main characters. They had great chemistry, and I'm curious to see what a BL adaptation of this show would have been like.

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Okay

The first half of the drama was quite good but the second half was a bit of a mess. There were a lot of plotholes and inconsistencies which made you wonder whether you accidentally skipped an episode that explained some of the things that were happening. I would have also liked to see more endings e.g. what happened to the street children who were part of Wang Zhi's network? Did Tang Fan and Sui Zhou get promoted after the incident? etc.

I expected more fight scenes in the series but I wasn't severely disappointed by the few that happened. My favourite was the fight between Gao Yi and Amasanj. As for music, it wasn't memorable but it wasn't bad.

I liked most of the characters. Wang Zhi was a favourite when he wasn't infected with a plague called 'Tang Fan'. Sui Zhou was also very impressive whenever Tang Fan wasn't around. As for Tang Fan, I had an 'on' and 'off' like for him. He was very good at times but in others, he was the egotistical person who took advantage of the affection of those around him. It was also strange how he could be knowledgeable about politics in one instance but a novice in others. For example, he once asked Wang Zhi to request supervisory power from the emperor which inevitably risked Wang Zhi's life. At that point, he seemed unaware of the implications of his actions. However, he also told Wang Zhi that it would be good if a day came when the emperor forgot him which shows that he understood the threat to Wang Zhi's life due to how powerful he had become. There are such many contradictions that leave you wondering. There were also instances of him causing trouble because of his self-righteousness and belief that he couldn't possibly be wrong. Overall, Tang Fan wasn't my favourite.
I also liked her highness Wan Zhen'er. She was a badass woman but also soft when it counted. She was great, especially in the last two episodes.

The bromance was just okay. The chemistry is incomparable to some of the greats like 'the untamed, word of honour, advance bravely, love is more than a word, guardian, etc' but it was okay. There was a total lack of ambiguity though which was a bit disappointing. Luckily, neither Tang Fan nor Sui Zhou ended up with a woman.

I don't think I will rewatch this drama any time soon but I will probably do so in a few years.

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